15 July 2010

The Divine is in the Detail

I have been musing on a detail which the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus does not make explicit. Are you sitting comfortably?

Ordinariates will be immediately subject to the Sovereign Pontiff; and the jurisdiction of the Ordinary will be that of the Roman Pontiff himself per modum vicarium. This surely means that clergy of Ordinariates should dress in the old Roman clerical style. That is to say, in summary, with those white fold-over collars worn by Redemptorists and Oratorians; and with bobble-free birettas.

Come to think of it, that would make us look distinctly more like the clergy in portraits from the Laudian period. And - for that matter - would be a useful reminder of the pride which the Anglo-Saxon Church took in the accuracy, even in details, of its Romanitas. And, if we are to be called the Newman Ordinariate, well, it's what Newman wore.

When Anglo-Catholics start talking about the tat and the millinery, you know we're serious.

I recall that Fortescue notes a Roman custom of using only the minimum number of servers - not cluttering the sanctuary with a multitude of useless boys - and in particular of not using a processional cross.

A far less important question than bobbles on hats, but a related one which has occurred to me a few times...has any indication been given on what would be said during the "Una cum..." of the Canon? Will the Antistite be the Holy Father (and thus be omitted on grounds of repitition) or the Ordinary?

Fr John Hunwicke

was for nearly three decades at Lancing College; where he taught Latin and Greek language and literature, was Head of Theology, and Assistant Chaplain. He has served three curacies, been a Parish Priest, and Senior Research Fellow at Pusey House in Oxford. He is now incardinated into the Personal Ordinariate of our Lady of Walsingham. The opinions expressed on this Blog are not asserted as being those of the Magisterium of the Church, but as the writer's opinions as a private individual. Nevertheless, the writer strives, hopes, and prays that the views he expresses are conformable with and supportive of the Magisterium. Nothing on this site is to be taken as representing the views of the Ordinariate of our Lady of Walsingham, of its Ordinary, or of any part of it.